According to a new study from the University of London, one type of food can singlehandedly push your LDL cholesterol level through the roof.
And this is exactly the type of food that’s becoming more and more popular.
In fact, you should avoid eating this type of food more than once per week.
By now, we all know that takeaway meals increase our cholesterol, but we often don’t realize just how harmful they are.
Researchers performed this study with young school kids, but the results are unlikely to be terribly different for adults.
They analyzed information from 1,948 primary school kids from 85 schools in London, Birmingham, and Leicester. They asked the kids about their consumption of takeout meals and about the food they consumed in the previous 24 hours.
In addition, the scientists tested the kids’ physical measurements and fasting blood samples.
Overall, 26% of the kids reported hardly ever or never consuming takeaway meals; 46% ate such meals less than once per week; and 28% ate them once or more per week.
More frequent takeaway meal consumption was related to significantly higher total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and body fat content.
Those who ate more takeaways consumed more calories but less protein and vitamin C.
The takeaway of this study is simple: cook more at home and eat fewer takeaways.